Ernie, Do you also have a part number for that finger and thumb, so I we can build our cam seal housings back as per your pics?
There was 2 different sealants on the oring proving that it was not changed in the last major. Also see the damage in each corner which has sealant gooped on it. Obvious why it was leaking. Thanks again everybody Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just reviving this thread because the drain “notch” on the seal housings is lined up with the notch on the od. This notch was positioned at 12 o clock relative to the head. So this is incorrect from what I’m reading? So the notch should be down, but at 6 o clock to the head or straight down as in pointing down toward the ground? All this then got me looking at how the oil drain holes are positioned in the head… none of which seems optimized. In fact, the intake cam drain hole doesn’t go all the way thru the casting. The 5-8 exhaust cam drain hole looks like it was opened up. The 1-4 exhaust cam drain hole looks like it’s at 6 o clock to the head so not the “optimal” position… I forgot to look at the 5-8 intake drain hole because I convinced myself the notch and seal housing drain hole should be up at 12 o clock relative to the head.. “like a timing mark” which is how it had been put together. This seems wrong based on the info in the thread and the manual. So I’d like to know, in addition to the correct orientation of the seal housing “drain”, what is the deal with the drain holes in the head? Did my intake drain just not get drilled thru? Is 5-8 exhaust bank the only one that gets opened up? Is 1-4 exhaust bank left as is? People mix comments about this with 308/328 qv threads also it seems like. Thanks for any input. cheers
These two features are lined up with each other… which means the oil “drain” notch was on the top… Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This is the hole on 1-4 intake cam that doesn’t go thru..wish I would’ve taken photos of the others … Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ricambi has tool too drill heads for oiling. Not all 348s leaked out seals. Some cars more problem than others. Some the aluminum ring does not matter. Some need to align ring to run oil out. Some needed to be drilled. Some pros used this as profit center drilled all 348s. Some owners drilled because while you were in there. The oil leak at cam seals is ferrai charm.
So it’s established fact that some 348’s have the drain feature 180 degrees from the mark on the od? Which cam head area gets drilled with the ricambi tool? I know it’s not the cam getting drilled but I don’t know how to word that question better… some implied it was only the opposite end of the head … not the cam drive side, but some pics sure looked like drive side.. but I dunno.. It made sense to me to have the feature up when I noticed the oil drain hole was blind on the intake cam on bank 1-4…otherwise oil would pool there even more!… but I didn’t check 5-8. It also looked to me like bank 5-8 exhaust drain had been opened up already compared to 1-4.. Probably thinking about it too much but that’s what I do.. especially when I read contradictions in the manual.. Any additional clarifications appreciated.
I think all 348 have that groove but many have been filed larger to assist drainage. It’s a bad design. The drill fixture was a kludge to vent the pocket. It is there purely to keep oil off the back of the seal where gravity encourages leakage on some cars. Sometimes you get cam seal and it may feel looser than another cam seal. I always sourced from good supplier like ricambi vs. others who might have measured and sourced cam seal. Sort of like the valve cover generic gaskets without the red seal oem seal. Both can work but the oem red seal ones are better. Cars that sit leak more.
My passenger exhaust side was weeping just a little bit. Ferrarichat reading says there was an issue where they drilled the drainback wrong... In theory, oil could puddle at the 12mm or so from the bottom of the cavity to where the drain back was drilled. Mine was full of oil. It was the only cavity like this. the sharpie dot is there for illustration, and is pretty close to where the jig drilled the hole. '89 TS for reference...your issue may be different. Image Unavailable, Please Login I didn't have a picture of the jig in place, but I had one where I stuck the drill bit back in to show the angle the jig drills it at. Image Unavailable, Please Login
That oil drain hole on the 1-4 bank is on the wrong place from the factory, the jig allows you to drill it properly. Should be at 6ocloxk it's at like 4 o'clock. Lining up the cap drain slot and the oil drain hole does nothing since it's not at the bottom when the heads are on. It is as the bottom on the bench that was the factory mistake. Drill new hole with fresh new bit and then line up the cup. Most leaks are not from that drain issue it's from pinching the o ring, the valve cover groove is razor sharp. It pinches and tears the o ring or the gasket touches the o ring and that can did in. There is a tab to file the block with round file, hondabond then fills it when assembling. I rounded the valve cover ,I mean is razor sharp, check it out. Sent from my SM-G990U using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Thank you gents for all the feedback! Did anyone else notice the 1-4 intake drain not drilled all the way thru? Probably not gonna worry about that one for now … maybe Ferrari realized it was gonna intersect with the oil feed lol. Has anyone disassembled and not seen the o rings nipped? That’s a good tip to deburr especially if there was a tsb (figured u got spell checked there). I notice guys like to use sealer on o rings, and I had a debate with an experienced mechanic about this just the other day. O ring glands are engineered to give space for the o ring to go when compressed, so I don’t think it’s good to fill the gland with sealant. I don’t know if this would contribute to the nipping of the o ring where the cam cover and head come together… but I would luv to hear if people have tore down with no o ring nip.. which of course could be related to a correctly sized o ring and deburr and following tsb blah blah.. Thanks again for sharing experiences and observations!
The one that needs new drilling is 1-4 exhaust, intake should be through already if not drill it through or its caked up. Mine were all through at least, I cleaned them out. Sent from my SM-G990U using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I know of only 1 guy who has the drill rig and that is Ricambi. I wonder how many times he has loaned out the jig vs. the number of cars in the fleet? I actually think a lot fewer cars have been drilled than people think. I wonder how many drilling rigs exist?
I know of 2 places, Daniel loans it to those who buy the major kit and another place you can rent it, it's in Chicago malled mrp or something like that, I have it written someewhere, I got Daniel's loaner. Btw most Indy shops have no idea this was an issue and that there is a jig to correct it and a tsb. Sent from my SM-G990U using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Well it really isn't much of an issue. Some cars are leakers" and that can be the solution. When I raced my 348 it had high maintenance like belt change every year or 2 depending on how much I raced. I never got leaks because my car wasn't sitting for 5 years.
Thanks gents for the clarification that it is just the 1-4 exhaust that gets drilled with the fixture. My 1-4 intake is definitely not drilled thru. Here’s a pic but it’s kind of hard to see the entire area, but there’s no thru hole. I don’t want to find out the hole is in a different location than others and is going to intersect with an oil feed hole. I doubt that’s the case but that’s drama I don’t want right now vs just an oil leak. This all started when I found a chunk of tooth in the gearbox which prompted an entire teardown… thankfully the tooth was from a previous failure but that’s for another thread. The oil pump tensioner was also bent and ready to break but I caught it all before catastrophe so am very thankful I’m on the way back together. The oil seal housing orientation I suppose is minor in the scheme of things but when I saw this thread and the contradiction to the manual (not the first time) I felt “triggered” to post since that is just orientation on assembly. I won’t lose sleep on the oil drain holes for now… instead I’m losing sleep because of a thread I read on water pumps . Thanks again for the clarification!
